Michigan State true freshman Damion Terry has fought his way into the Spartans' QB competition.Gillian Van Stratt | MLive

EAST LANSING — Mark Dantonio doesn't want there to be any misunderstanding when it comes to Michigan State's quarterback competition.

"At the beginning of the scrimmage it was a three-horse race, and at the end of the scrimmage it was the four-horse race,'' Dantonio said, referring to true freshman Damion Terry working himself into the battle for playing time.

"It's not that complicated,'' he said. "You're gonna play the guys that are moving the football down the field, that don't make mistakes, that can create. I've said that all along, and he demonstrated that.''

Terry put up 280 yards of total offense in Saturday's scrimmage, some of it coming against the first team defense and all of it with a "live" jersey on that allowed him to be hit . He was 10-of-14 passing for 240 yards and three touchdowns, and he rushed for 40 yards on 12 carries.

Senior Andrew Maxwell was 9-of-19 for 77 yards, Connor Cook was 4-of-9 for 67 yards and an interception and a TD and Tyler O'Connor was 11-of-16 for 102 yards, an interception and two touchdowns.

"There's no question (Terry) made some plays, he made some big-time throws and that's exciting to watch,'' Dantonio said. "Realistically, we have to see if he's consistent with his performance that he displayed on Saturday, and we're going to find that out.''

Dantonio explained it takes time for any true freshman to get a grasp on the offense.

"When you have a freshman the learning curve is so big, where you're at on Practice one, two, three, four and five is distinctly different than Practice 16, 17, 18 and 19.''

Dantonio isn't ready to say that Terry will or won't redshirt, indicating that decision is more than a week away.

"Tough to say right now because we don't have this next week and half in the bank,'' he said. "What we have seen is he made plays in the scrimmage, he throws a good ball, and he made plays with his feet.''